Review: The Chair: Special Edition
I didn’t hear about Alterna Press, and its titles, until I made a late jump onto Social Media a few months ago, where I caught buzz of The Chair. I tried to pick up a copy of the first issue re-release a few months back, but Midtown Comics didn’t have any in stock, so I ended up ordering it directly via eBay. It was a better deal, since I ended up with a signed copy from Peter Simeti (plus some extra goodies).
Since then the compelling, but threatening first chapter hooked me; and I’ve been waiting for the Special Edition Graphic Novel to be printed. From what I gather, this book has been floating around since some time in 2008, but original copies are hard to come by, and they can go for about $50-$100. Plus now that the movie is slated to likely premiere in 2016, prices have gone up. With the newer to be released special edition priced at $17.99 the choice to wait was easy. It’s a second print, but it includes the movie screenplay and bonus materials. Still this was supposed to be a limited run, and there was a good chance I might not get hold of a copy. Luckily I got mine at Midtown Comics (as of this writing I also see that there are still six copies available on Amazon). If you enjoy a raw and twisted psychological horror fest that pushes the limits on sanity and decency, then this one is for you.
Within its pages you will not find your standard comic book art. It is a dark confused black and white rendering reminiscent of Edvard Munch’s lithograph version of ‘The Scream’. Take a look below, and see if both don’t capture the distorted individual suffering of extreme existential anxiety.
This is not the muscular well define super hero art most of us are used to, but it’s appropriate for this tale.
Furthermore, the title bills itself as a psychological terror. Now, years ago, as a budding freshman psych major, I saw the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE) film. For those of you unfamiliar with the SPE, a Stanford University professor conducted what was supposed to be a simple experiment, within a faux prison setting, with startling results. A group of college students were placed into two roles: that of prisoners and guards. The results were shocking, overtaking the Professor himself, who in a supervisory role allowed the abuse and torture of the ‘prisoners’ by the ‘guards’. Suffice to say that the experiment had to be aborted early for the safety and well being of all concerned. Within the context of this experimental film, the horror of monsters living within men is only too real; and today it is still a respected classical example on cognitive dissonance theory and the overreaching power of authority.
This book draws more than a pailful from the dark and twisted water well of this experiment. The story of Richard Sullivan–a self professed innocent man fighting for his sanity in his final days on Death Row amongst a criminally insane prison population and demonized behavior rationalizing prison guards–intensifies the gory violence between prisoner and warden to its unexpected psychologically disturbing conclusion.
Story: Peter Simeti Art: Peter Simeti and Kevin Christensen
Story: 9 Art: 9 Overall: 9 Recommendation: Buy
Alterna Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review, the reviewer PURCHASED his own copy.
To make the time fly faster, I struck a conversation with the guy behind me. We hit it off. We talked about comic books, action figures, life, sports, the weather, the cold, and food. I then told him if he wanted to, we could meet at Sophie’s (a nearby popular Cuban franchise in NYC) after the signing to eat before we headed back home. I even showed him my newly purchased book, ‘Changin Your Game Plan’, and he got a laugh out of that.
I tried really hard to like the Brooklyn Animal Control one-shot. As a Brooklynite exiled to the suburbs, any book with a Brooklyn theme grabs my attention. I love the idea, written by J.T. Petty, behind this book: Mafia like clans of werewolves warring amongst themselves, and against a secret elite police force tasked with fighting werewolf organized crime. Also, the art by Stephen Thompson is good, and sequentially it flows like a police procedural. Nonetheless, I really could not get into this one. This reads more like an issue zero, with all its explications and introductions.
The Eighth Seal is a horror book by James Tynion IV that was originally penned back in 2013, while he was making his bones at DC. It was released as a web comic through Mark Waid’s site Thrillbent.com. If you missed it, like I did, you can now pick up the IDW Publishing print release this Wednesday. And, I highly recommend you do so.
Issue one introduces us to the motley crew of super-powered Brooklynite Millennials, banding together, and led by the mysterious Trustfunder–the Claremont’s X-Men inspiration is obvious. The sequencing is a bit hard to follow at times, but there’s a lot Dimitrios is trying to get in one issue. Nonetheless, the story and humor draws you in–how do you serve jamba juice to a millennial with no wi-fi– and whether you are a millennial or not, it’s easy to relate to characters “kept down by the unfair system.”
This one I knew about for over a week now. There’s 
been no shortage of fanfare about the new Totally Awesome Incredible Hulk sans Bruce Banner—who is replaced by Amadeus Cho, the eighth smartest man in the All-New, All-Different Marvel Universe, according to the Pym-Von Doom Raw Calc Scale.
Tet is the third entry in IDW Publishing’s new creator owned and imprint Comics Experience, and I’ve been reading this one since the first issue. It originally was not in my pull list when I saw the title on the rack, but I immediately recognized it for it was—a book set during the Vietnam War—and picked it up.
On my morning commute today, as I was skimming through my Twitter feed, I spotted a Tweet from 
So, after that delightful read, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to get an extra signed copy or two for myself and my nieces, and also get the hip-hop variant cover which I did not yet own. Around lunch time, I took the No. 4 subway train to Union Square, and hoofed it over to Forbidden Planet NYC. At the store, I bought my copies, and waited my turn in line with the other fans to meet Amy Reeder and Brandon Montclare.
